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Driving the Day

SCOTUS TO DECIDE FATE OF DACA:The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this morning regarding the Trump administration’s attempt, thwarted by multiple appellate judges, to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. A high court ruling, expected no later than June 2020, will decide the fate of nearly 669,000 Dreamers who were extended protection when President Barack Obama created DACA. POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein will follow the arguments today. Members of Congress, DACA recipients, and supporters of the program will hold a pro-DACA rally on the court steps.

The Trump administration terminated DACA on March 5, 2018, and while appeals courts compelled the administration to re-start the process for renewing DACA enrollment, no new applicants were accepted, POLITICO’s Bianca Quilantan reports. Duke University senior Axel Herrera Ramos said the Supreme Court’s decision will determine his plans after graduation. “For many of us who have DACA, it's been two years of waiting this out. In some ways, I believe that you get a little bit numb to the news of it. It’s just extremely draining.”

If the court rules DACA unlawful, no future administration will be able to revive it without getting a bill through Congress. DACA recipients will lose their protection from deportation and, more immediately, their ability to work or to attend school legally. 143 different businesses and business associations have warned that eliminating the program “will inflict serious harm on U.S. companies, all workers, and the American economy as a whole.”

“DACA recipients are filling vacancies at companies that otherwise would not be able to attract workers for open positions,” these businesses wrote in an amicus brief last month. “They are creating businesses that employ other Americans. And their increased wages lead to higher tax revenues and expansion of our national GDP — producing new jobs and benefits for all Americans.”

ANOTHER IMMIGRATION CASE TO WATCH: The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments next year on whether a federal law that makes it a crime to encourage migrants to enter or live in the U.S. illegally runs afoul of the First Amendment. The 9th Circuit invalidated part of the law in 2018. The high court agreed in October to take up the Trump administration’s appeal of that ruling.

“The statute potentially criminalizes the simple words — spoken to a son, a wife, a parent, a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, a student, a client — ‘I encourage you to stay here,’” Judge A. Wallace Tashima wrote last year for the Ninth Circuit. The New York Times’ Adam Liptak paraphrases: “The law applies to a grandmother urging a grandchild to overstay a visa or a lawyer advising a client to stay in the country while fighting deportation, Judge Tashima wrote. It may cover public officials helping immigrants in sanctuary cities and perhaps even speeches at immigration rallies, he wrote.” More from the Times.

On the Hill

CLOTURE VOTE ON WOLF TODAY: The Senate will vote today to invoke cloture on Chad Wolf’s nomination for policy undersecretary at DHS, a job he's held on an acting basis since February. A likely yea vote will clear the path for a vote on the nomination itself. If Wolf is confirmed, that will clear the legal hurdle that bars him from taking the helm as acting DHS secretary. The cloture vote is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Cloture limits floor debate to two hours under new Senate rules. POLITICO’s Marianne LeVine will track the vote today.

Immigration

MIGRANTS FLOCK TO ARIZONA TO DODGE ‘REMAIN IN MEXICO’:“Some migrants are heading to Arizona as word spreads that they are far more likely to be allowed to stay in the U.S. there than if they cross in Texas, New Mexico, or California,” Alicia Caldwell reports for The Wall Street Journal. Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan said in September that migrant families seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border would no longer be released into the interior of the U.S. under a program known as the Migrant Protection Protocols.

“Authorities and advocates confirmed, however, that in Arizona many hundreds of such people each week are instead being released to shelters,” Caldwell writes, “from which they will likely travel to other states and wait for their cases to be resolved, a process that can take years.”

“Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol, confirmed that MPP isn’t in place in Arizona, but said some migrants arrested there are being shuttled to Texas or California and returned to Mexico from there,” according to the Journal. “The agency didn’t respond to questions about why the program isn’t in place in Arizona and how it fit with a statement by acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan last month that, ‘we have essentially ended catch and release at the southwest border.’” More from the Journal.

COMPANIES PUSH BACK OVER ASYLUM WORK PERMIT SLOW DOWN: More than a dozen companies are calling on the Trump administration to withdraw a proposal that would “slow down the work permit approval process for asylum seekers,” Reuters’ Ted Hesson reports. In September, DHS proposed scrapping a provision that requires USCIS to respond within 30 days to an asylum-seeker's application for work authorization.

“We are concerned that the proposed rule would hurt our ability to attract and retain talent,” they wrote. “Many of the undersigned companies already have asylum seekers in our workforce and many will have need to hire members of this population in the months ahead.” More from Hesson.

Hearst has not yet stated whether it will recognize the union or force an NLRB election, but if Hearst is unionized that will add another newsroom to WGAE’s growing roster, which includes Vox Media, Slate, HuffPost, and Refinery29. The Hearst Magazines Media Union Organizing Committee wrote that it will address compensation, diversity and inclusion, and transparency within the company.

“The Hearst Magazines Media Union demands that the company make concrete strides to form a truly inclusive and fair workplace,” the statement said. “The only way to drive the company culture forward, continue as a leader within the media industry, and make the brands stronger collectively and separately is to consolidate our interests into one strong, collective voice.”

When the California state legislature was debating legislation to codify the state’s so-called ABC test, which makes it harder for businesses to classify workers as independent contractors, Uber and other tech companies sought unsuccessfully for a compromise that would create a route for gig workers to engage in sectoral bargaining. Now it's pressing to get a measure on the California ballot that would shield gig companies from having to reclassify app-summoned workers as employees, if the company meets conditions, like hourly flexibility.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), a labor ally, said on Twitter that Khosrowshahi’s comments contradicted Uber lead counsel Tony West, who she said offered the possibility of a union. “They talk in doublespeak all the time," Gonzalez told POLITICO. Uber spokesperson Davis White told POLITICO Monday that nothing had changed, noting the company had not previously backed full unionization. “The previous offer to include sectoral bargaining in the proposal speaks for itself,” White said. More from POLITICO.

MUST READ: “A Surprising Finding on Paid Leave: ‘This Is Not the Way We Teach This,’” from The New York Times

At the Border

ICYMI:“The U.S. Border Patrol arrested about 36,300 people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in October, a 10 percent drop from the previous month, according to new numbers reviewed by The Wall Street Journal,” Michelle Hackman reports. “The latest figure represents a nearly 75 percent decrease from May, when the number of migrants crossing the border peaked at 132,856.” according to Hackman. Arrests then dropped over the summer, reaching 40,507 in September.

U.S. authorities in 2019arrested more migrants crossing the southern border than in more than a decade. “U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents arrested 851,508 border-crossers in the 2019 fiscal year, which ended in September,” POLITICO’s Ian Kullgren has reported, “more than double the previous fiscal year, when agents arrested fewer than 400,000 people.” More from the Journal.

COMINGS AND GOINGS: Rebecca Dixon will be taking over as executive director of the worker advocacy group The National Employment Law Project (NELP). Dixon has been serving as NELP’s chief of programs. She will take over the role from Christine Owens on Jan. 2.

What We're Reading

— “Amazon plans new grocery store in L.A. as it thinks about how to conquer the industry,” from the Los Angeles Times

— “He revealed his HIV status to his employer. Then he was fired, a lawsuit alleges.” from The Washington Post

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About The Author : Rebecca Rainey

Rebecca Rainey is an employment and immigration reporter with POLITICO Pro and the author of the Morning Shift newsletter.

Prior to joining POLITICO in August 2018, Rainey covered the Occupational Safety and Health administration and regulatory reform on Capitol Hill. Her work has been published by The Washington Post and the Associated Press, among other outlets.

Rainey holds a bachelor’s degree from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland.

She was born and raised on the eastern shore of Maryland and grew up 30 minutes from the beach. She loves to camp, hike and be by the water whenever she can.